O9-7 Community-based physical activity promotion for mental health and wellbeing in ‘hard-to-reach' groups

Abstract Community-based health enhancing physical activity (PA) initiatives often lead to important mental health and wellbeing outcomes beyond improvements in physical activity levels. However, identifying what outcomes to measure and how to measure them is a challenge in community-based work. There is a lack of practical guidance on how to strengthen mental health and wellbeing outcomes within the context of PA initiatives. This presentation will share the work on a project with community based practitioners and mental health/physical activity experts which is being led by the HEPA Europe Working Group on HEPA promotion in socially disadvantaged groups, supported by WHO Europe. The presentation will engage participants in discussions around the following questions: What are the most important mental health and wellbeing outcomes of community-based health enhancing physical activity initiatives in Europe, and how can these best (i.e., adequately, and pragmatically) be assessed for evaluation purposes? What are the needs of practitioners (from physical activity sectors and mental health sectors) working in communities to promote mental health through physical activity?

However, less is known about the associations of domain specific sitting and breaks at work and self-rated global health, likewise if physical activity could influence the associations. Methods 36,120 adults (42% women) from the Swedish working population who participated in a nationwide occupational health service screening 2014 -2018 were included in this crosssectional study. Sitting duration and frequency of breaking sitting time at work, self-rated global health, exercise, leisure time sitting, diet, smoking and stress were self-reported. Cardiorespiratory fitness was estimated by a submaximal cycle test and BMI assessed through physical examination. Occupation was classified to requiring university competence or not. Logistic regression modelling assess OR (95% CI) associated between poor global health and decreased levels of workplace sitting and increased breaks in workplace sitting.

Results
Having poor perceived global health was associated with increasing levels of workplace sitting, OR 0.65 (0.57-0.74) for sitting 75% of the time vs. sitting almost all time. Association were found between having poor perceived global health and lower frequency of breaking up workplace sitting every 30 minutes, in people sitting more than half of their working time, OR 0.60 (0.51-0.69) for occasionally seldom breaking up sitting. The association were affected by sex, type of work, exercise habits, and sitting during leisure time. When sitting almost all the time OR for poor global health was 0.48 (0.39-0.60) for regular exerciser vs. no regular exercise. Within the no regular exercise group the OR 0.75 (0.63-0.89) for having poor global health was lower if not sitting almost all the time.

Conclusion
Sitting almost all the time at work and not taking breaks, are associated with increased risk for perceived poor global health. The associations are affected by sex, type of job, exercise habits and sitting during leisure time. People who have to sit almost all their time at work, should be recommended to exercise on regular weekly bases and/or decrease their leisure time sitting O9-6 Shedding Light on men's health: Evaluating the impact and scalability of a community-based men's health promotion programme ''Sheds for Life'' in Irish Men's Sheds

Background
Sheds for Life (SFL) is a ten-week health and wellbeing programme delivered in the community setting of Men's Sheds in Ireland that uses gender-sensitive approaches to engage typically hard-to-reach men (?Shedders') with health. SFL consists of a health check, core modules of physical activity (consisting of a walking programme or chair-based exercises for older adults), mental wellbeing, healthy eating and other elective wellbeing components. SFL is implemented across two phases with four regions per phase. The purpose of the research is to evaluate SFL using an implementation science approach to assess programme impact and implementation effectiveness with a view to enhancing its sustainability and scalability while also informing gender-sensitive strategies that engage hard-to-reach men with health and wellbeing.

Methods
This study is a hybrid typology ?effectiveness-implementation? design. A community-based participatory research, and mixed methods approach has been adopted to measure the effects of the SFL intervention on Shedders across implementation phases and identify and monitor implementation barriers and facilitators that can inform future sustainability and scale-up of SFL. Central to effective implementation of SFL is a partnership approach between the Irish Men's Sheds Association (IMSA) and other health-related partner organisations (POs). This research engages key stakeholders (at individual (Shedder), provider (POs) and organisational (IMSA) levels) and prioritises implementation outcomes. Purposive sampling is used to recruit a diverse sample of participants (Shedders n = 420 and SFL providers n = 20).

Results
Findings from phase 1 will inform phase 2 implementation. Preliminary physical activity outcome results from phase one across four regions (baseline to ten weeks) suggest days active per week increased from 3.07 to 4.32 days (p =.00) days walking increased from 4.29 to 5.28 days (p=.00) minutes walking per day increased from 33.31 to 38.15 (p=.005) Conclusions Preliminary findings highlight the potential of the SFL initiative to address the increasing calls for gender-specific health promotion programmes that target lifestyle and health behaviour change in men. Shed settings are unique and effective in attracting men from more marginalised male subpopulations, reaching men who would typically not engage with health services.
Abstract citation ID: ckac094.071 O9-7 Community-based physical activity promotion for mental health and wellbeing in 'hard-to-reach' groups